Professor John Rice, a pioneer of the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS), recognized that schools' curricula were at odds with the kind of science and mathematics driving the new economy. In addition to curriculum that lacked relevance to contemporary life, negative student attitudes and a shortage of qualified science and mathematics teachers were creating a crisis in the field that required a total transformation of existing models of senior science and a mathematics education. In 2002, a partnership between the South Australian Department of Education and Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, responded to the crisis by building a purpose-designed school on the university's grounds to provide a state-of-the-art learning environment. The mission of the school was to re-engage senior secondary school students in the disciplines of science and mathematics through innovative and authentic curriculum, pedagogies that promoted group inquiry, and self-directed learning and capabilities to engage with and contribute to the 21st-century world. Defining and shaping leadership was a significant aspect of the school's professional learning journey, and the leaders of the school shaped their thinking practices around Nelson Mandela's perceptive understanding that "leadership is about liberating cleverness." Today, the professional learning journey for all members of the school continues and shapes and reshapes experiences for teachers and students.